What’s a Supper Club?
With our first collaborative Supper Club happening very soon on 15th and 16th March with Moreish Good Food (tickets still available here!) I thought it was a good time to define what a Supper Club is, or at least what we at Laurelbank Farm call a Supper Club and why we love them so!
Our Welcome Feast at Christmas - All photos by Sharon Cosgrove Photography.
Essentially a Supper Club is a bunch of people getting together to share a wonderful multi-course meal!
But to make it really special, for me, there are some important key elements:
The meal has a set menu (subject to dietary requirements) - everyone is eating the same at the same time.
The menu is revealed and tickets are sold in advance.
Everyone sits together for the meal, ideally on one big table.
One sitting per evening. We think a supper club should be a leisurely and communal experience. Not a rushed one.
But what makes it a good one....
The Food. Obviously, the food is important. A supper club is an ideal experience for people to try something new - everyone is eating the same, and you get to hear a wee story about what you're about to eat! We are so excited to collaborate with Eileen McKeown from Moreish Good Food. I’ve been a fan of Eileen’s for many years, her food is zesty and spicy and full of life! Our menu is inspired by Eileen’s childhood growing up in Mexico, and Claire (our resident chef) has helped to give everything an Irish twist! We hope that there will be something surprising or new for everyone who attends. And of course everything will be delicious!
The Chat. We love talking about the food that we prepare and serve, and we always interrupt between each course and let everyone know what they are about to eat. We might talk about why we've chosen to cook a particular dish, or something interesting about the recipe, the ingredients or the process involved in getting it to their plate. No doubt Eileen will have stories to share with us all on the night about what inspires her menus. She says herself, “I have always had a love affair with food; it takes me to different places, makes me feel loved, welcomed and happy. Passing those feelings on with my cooking is what I’m here to do and its my favourite form of expression!”
The Venue. We hold supper clubs in The Gallery - our converted barn, turned event space here at Laurelbank farm. It’s pretty magical with exposed beams and twinkly lights and the original stone walls exposed. We will of course be dressing the space for this very special Supper Club, so expect bright joyful colours and of course, as always, beautiful seasonal flowers. Anywhere that is interesting or quirky is a potential location for a supper club. An unusual setting can add a whole new dimension or source of inspiration for the menu.
You! We love it when we look along the supper club table and can no longer tell who arrived with whom. All the groups of people are chatting away, sharing wine (or beer) and generally have a fab time. I'm a very shy person, but even I manage to relax and chat away to my neighbours when I attend a supper club. There is always interesting food to chat about. It really is a unique social experience.
We begin each Supper Club with welcome drinks and nibbles in The Cow Byre where we serve delicious flatbreads cooked in our wood-fired pizza oven. The Cow Byre retains many of its original features, and is a really fun space to kick off a Supper Club. It is also the location of our little farm shop - (or farm shelf!) might be more a more accurate description! Here we have a range of jams, chutneys and relishes that we make on the farm for sale, along with bags of fresh organic mixed salad leaves and our book The Edible Flower: A Modern Guide to Growing Cooking and Eating Edible Flowers!
For the main event we head into The Gallery our converted barn, and now our main event space! Exposed beams, twinkly lights and two big long tables for feasting! Everyone sits together and the meal begins. We serve family style on sharing platters and everyone passes around the platters to their neighbours. All our events are bring-your-own, so the wine (or beer!) is opened and the craic begins! Between each course we talk about the dishes we have prepared, and why they are so special, so everyone finds out a little bit more about what they are eating and whwre the ingredients have come from.
As the final course is served and the night begins to wind-down, we all head outside for a final nibble and a cup of fresh herbal tea around the fire pit. Nestled below our ancient sycamore tree and looking out across the fields it’s a great spot. We start with fire and we end with fire!
I love the chats I have with everyone at the end of the night. It’s such a special element of our Supper Clubs and definitely the bit I look forward to most! I can’t wait to connect with new people, and of course catching-up with our longstanding friends around the fire again very soon!